To reduce flood risk, thereby minimizing the impacts of floods on human safety, health, and welfare; and, consistent with these flood risk reduction goals, to preserve and enhance the environmental and aesthetic values that floodways and floodplains contribute to the quality of life in the Sacramento region.

The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA) was formed in 1989 to address the Sacramento area's vulnerability to catastrophic flooding. This vulnerability was exposed during the record flood of 1986 when Folsom Dam exceeded its normal flood control storage capacity and several area levees nearly collapsed under the strain of the storm. In response, the City of Sacramento, the County of Sacramento, the County of Sutter, the American River Flood Control District and Reclamation District No. 1000 created SAFCA through a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement to provide the Sacramento region with increased flood protection along the American and Sacramento Rivers.